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Deliverance | 
 enlarge | Author: James Dickey
Publisher: Delta
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $1.95
You Save: $13.05 (87%)
New (28) Used (57) Collectible (10) from $1.95
Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 11089
Media: Paperback
Pages: 278
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 038531387X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385313872
ASIN: 038531387X
Publication Date: September 10, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Released for the first time in trade paperback, this is the classic tale of four men caught in a primitive and violent test of manhood.The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where the states most remote white-water river awaits. In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 The Sublime Poetry of Violence, Death and Darkness September 28, 2008
rd-reviews (Atlanta, GA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
No need to repeat a plot summary of Dickey's modern classic. The story is well-known due to the popular 1972 film adaptation. What truly makes this book a powerful and shattering read is Dickey's command of the language - a poetic narrative concerning four naive city dwellers confronted with the harsh realities of unforgiving wilderness and the sadism of evil men.
Dickey, using simple yet evocative prose, finds meaning, beauty, and emotional resonance in some of the most banal details of the journey. His protagonist, Ed Gentry, provides us with the thoughts and feelings of a man way over his head in a dire situation: chaotic, confused, but often transcendent. It is said that having a life-threatening experience can bring forth clarity, heightened awareness, and a greater appreciation of the beauty in the world. Ed's ordeal brings out much of this as well as the cold unforgiving side of his survival instinct.
The scene where Ed methodically prepares to kill their assailant with a hunting bow is one of the most harrowing and emotionally conflicted passages that I have read in recent memory. What would it be like to plan the death of another human - not out of rage or malice, but out of necessity because one's own survival depended on it. I have to imagine that Dickey got fairly close to reality.
As one who has hiked and paddled the area that was the novel's inspiration, I do have one bone to pick with Mr. Dickey. His portrayal of the people who live in the Appalachian foothills, amplified in John Boorman's film, is a hurtful slander. To this day, mentioning the book or the film while in the company of those who live in and around the Chattooga River will provoke looks of scorn and ill will. I have no doubt that ignorant and violent people have lived there. But anyone residing in a major metropolitan area need not drive very far from their home to find the same. In general, the people residing in the Southern Appalachians are, like those residing in most places, good, decent folk. Dickey would have done better not playing into, or even creating, negative stereotypes.
Honor Culture -vs- Culture of Law April 14, 2008
Stephen Balbach (Ashton, MD United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Since the appearance of the movie version of Deliverance in 1972 the story of four "city boy" weekend warriors who tangle with a couple mountain men in north Georgia has become a part of modern cultural mythology. Phrases like "Now, let's you just drop them pants," and "I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig," are, for better or worse, instantly recognizable. However for everyone who has seen the movie fewer probably know about or have much interest in the original novel by James Dickey published in 1970. The old saying about the book being better than movie is not the case here, not because the movie is better - the movie in fact is such a faithful adaptation of the book most of the dialog remains intact and no major scenes are cut - rather the movie plays to its strengths of excellent actors and cinematography, while the book plays its strengths as literature with depth of meaning. Both the movie and book are excellent and for anyone who has seen the movie reading the book will add new nuances, themes and insights that take it beyond just a good thriller and into the realm of classic literature. The Modern Library lists it at #42 in its list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th century.
At its core the story is about a clash of cultures, between the "city boys" and the "mountain men". What are these cultures? Southern Appalachia is an "Honor Culture", carried over from places like the border regions of Scotland and Ireland by their immigrant ancestors. Honor cultures often arise in regions of isolated geography because of weak or non-existent law enforcement, everyone is sort of the sheriff taking justice into their own hands (Hatfield and McCoys). In such an environment a persons honor is the currency of the realm - insult that honor and revenge is required leading to cycles of violence, aka "blood feuds". Similar dynamics can be seen still in places like Afghanistan, Chechnya or wherever law enforcement is weak or non-existent.
Lewis Medlock (Burt Renyolds) represents modern mans rebellion against the confines and constraints of the rule of the law, he laments the loss of the culture of honor where a man can stand up for himself on his own turf with his own hands. However in the end he gets more than he bargained for discovers how fragile and brief life can be in the untamed wilderness of mens hearts. Lewis changes in the end, becoming less reckless and more content to live a peaceful and quiet life in the civilized lawns of suburbia. The other characters go through similar transformations of which I will let the reader ponder. Even the river itself is tamed in the end, becoming a placid resort lake.
James Dickey Delivers One of the Greatest Novels Ever Written That Has Done For Wilderness Adventures What Jaws Did For Swimming January 10, 2008
James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia)
I have actually never seen the movie based on this novel but after reading this 1970 written classic, definitely plan to do so. This very simple storyline is just as much a thriller as anything else out there. Even though the story is told as a narration by Ed so you obviously know he survives you have no idea how many or if any of the others will as you turn the pages on this tranquil adventure which halfway through turns into a terrifying read and one that ponders the question of what would you do in order to survive. The descriptions of them canoeing down the river and rapids really make you believe you are in the canoes with these guys. A great classic read, glad I picked it up.
Deliverance is the story of a trip into the wilderness by four middle aged city guys, Ed, Lewis, Drew and Bobby. While some of the party are a bit reluctant to make the journey they are all eventually convinced by the fact that not too far in the future this river and surrounding area will be underwater when the new dam is complete and no one will ever have the chance to do a canoe trip like this again. They take a guitar and an archers bow to do a bit of illegal deer hunting along the way. The first day and night doesn't go smoothly but there's nothing they hadn't anticipated except an owl roosting and puncturing their tent with its talons as it constantly returns from hunting. On their second day however they will encounter true evil. Their stamina, friendship and every other trait will be tested to its extreme if they are going to make it back to civilisation alive.
I cringed, I squirmed, I had nightmares. Great book. August 24, 2007
John P. Thiel (Astoria, Queens, New York City)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Just because I think it's funny, I'll tell my experience reading this book.
I grew up in the New York City area, and when my parents suddenly moved to Vermont during my junior year of high school, I stayed in New York alone to finish at my school but moved up there the following summer and spent my senior year at Burr and Burton Seminary (a high school which used to be a seminary). This was a very pretty, and badly run school where if you weren't taking an AP class you were really studying at about a sixth grade level with the notable exception of Biology. I could have showed up drunk for class every day and still maintained a 'High Honors' average.
As far as the teachers and even Headmaster knew for lack of checking my record of perfect attendance and high grades, I was a slacker because I hung out with the kids who didn't fit in--who tended to also be 'flatlanders' like myself.
Anyway, the one saving grace besides the excellent Biology class was that English class was not bad at all, and my AP English teacher was from Westchester, which is where I moved from. At least I could understand what the hell he was saying--since I couldn't yet comprehend 'Vermonter.' Knowing my situation and how I felt about it, he assigned me the perfect book to compliment my dread--Deliverance.
I don't remember what I wrote for the book report, but it was a great read. I often took breaks from the intensity of this book, but couldn't help continuing to the end. It's a real page-turner, and much better than the movie. It's like I was a juror being required to watch kiddie porn to decide a case--I was repulsed and intrigued at the same time.
I felt the broken bones, the cuts, wet and tired, abused, and hunted. It's a very effectively written book.
This is not at all the sort of book I would pick out for myself, but I'm glad I read it--especially at the time I read it. It's purely for entertainment. You will learn absolutely nothing from this book, but for me, as someone who is highly selective about what he reads, I have to say it was a great break from the type of reading I normally do.
Don't Miss the Novel! June 12, 2007
RC Carrier (Sacramento, CA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Note: I made some immature Mormon angry because of my negative reviews of books that attempted to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews almost as fast as they are posted.
So, your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks, and note that a short review is not necessarily a bad review if it leads you to a great book.
Don't miss this shattering, reading-into-the-night novel. A group of set off on a raft trip down a wild river in the south, and everything goes wrong. I won't tell anymore, except to say that this is one of the best adventure novels I ever read.
The "New Yorker" said, "A novelist of power and skill. A marvel of description that will make your muscles ache. A brilliant and breathtaking adventure that is also a comment on American life."
The movie was great, but also treat yourself to reading the novel.
Here are a couple other highly recommended novels:
"Cry Wolf" (set in Ethiopia in the 1930s), by Wilbur Smith.
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (a man become invisible when there is an explosion at a research facility and everyone is out to get him), by De Saint.
"The Far Arena" (a Roman gladiator is dug out of the ice in the North sea and revived), Ben Sapir. A super novel!
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